PANJIM: As the State government cancelled 1,849 licences of tourist taxis over non-fitment of digital fare meters, the Bombay High Court at Goa has asked State not to revoke the same till meters are installed.
The High Court was hearing the contempt petition filed by the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) against the State government.
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When the matter came up for hearing, the government informed the High Court that so far 1,849 licences of tourist taxis have been cancelled for not fitting the digital meters.
As such the Division Bench directed that none of the taxi licence cancellation should be revoked until and unless the taxi is fitted with digital meter.
The State government further submitted that after grant of subsidy on digital meter, many owners of cancelled licence taxis are coming forward for meter installation. However, the licence revocation has not been done yet.
The State government has recently announced that the amount paid towards installation of digital meters would be refunded to the taxi owner.
However, some taxi operators have been demanding that permission granted to GoaMiles, the app-based facility, be withdrawn failing which they will not install the meters.
The government has directed GoaMiles also to install the same digital meters.
The TTAG had in July approached the High Court seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against the Chief Secretary and Transport Director for not implementing the assurance regarding installation of digital meters in taxis.
This was the second instance the contempt petition was filed.
The first contempt petition was disposed in January 2020 after recording the government statement that the implementation of the scheme to install digital meters in taxis on pilot basis had been successful and the notification as regards the fare rates will be issued by the State government in 15 days.
